Does Your Weight Measure Up?!

Finding it hard to resist the temptation, or simply had enough of feeling out of control with your weight??

Obesity and overweight are features of much of the developed world, yet are problematic across all affluence levels, from the poor to the very rich.

According to Aussie government statistics, 67% of the adult population is now overweight!

One of the suggested ways of defining obesity or overweight is the?body mass index (BMI).?The formula is the weight in kg divided by the square of height in meters. It can also be computed in pounds and inches: weight in pounds divided by height in inches times 704.5. There are limitations to its usefulness, however. For example, it is not able to indicate the level of body fat on the individual, and it is influenced by factors such as age, gender, and activity level. Men tend to have a higher percentage of body fat than women and older people tend to have a higher percentage of body fat than younger people. People who are very active and work out at the gym are likely to have a lower percentage of body fat than people who do very little physical activity.

Physical consequences of being overweight?

Obesity has been linked to a number of health-related illnesses, including heart disease, cancer, type II diabetes, stroke, arthritis, breathing problems, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, gout (also called?metabolic arthritis -?a disease created by a build-up of uric acid), and gallstones (Field, Barnoya, & Colditz, 2002).

Psychological and psycho-social consequences of being overweight

People experience many consequences of being obese and overweight, for example, being teased or bullied, abused in the street, societal prejudice (e.g. not being able to find a job or not being promoted to a higher position), and encountering physical barriers (e.g. plane seats being too small).

Obesity and overweight are not diagnosable psychiatric conditions and are not listed as eating disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). However, the association of a particular type of eating disorder,?binge eating, has been associated with obesity and overweight for some time. It’s thought that about 30-40% of people with binge eating disorders are also obese (Johnson & Torgrud, 1996).

Obese individuals have been consistently found in the developed world to be more dissatisfied with their appearance than non-obese individuals. The society in which we live plays a major part in this in the way it tends to glorify and favour a slender, non-fat, “ideal” body image. Pressure and information in the media also play their part in maintaining the unacceptable nature of being obese and overweight.?

Why do people gain excess weight??

Environmental and psycho-social factors

There are many environmental factors that are thought to contribute to an individual being obese or overweight. For example, energy-dense and high-fat (fast) foods are more readily available, and larger portion sizes are heavily promoted, at fast-food restaurants. In addition, there have been advances in technology e.g. TV and computer games, which have contributed significantly to people engaging in more sedentary lifestyles.

Emotion affects eating and weight gain. Many clients state that they eat more when they are upset or anxious, for example, and evidence indicates that stress can induce eating (Logue, 1991). Stress prompts people to overeat and make unhealthy food choices, especially those who have binge eating tendencies (Faith, Allison, & Geliebter, 1997). The foods that people tend to consume when stressed also tend to be high in fat and sugar (comfort foods). Experiencing chronic negative emotions such as depression has been found to put some people at risk of binge eating and becoming obese (Goodman & Whitaker, 2002).

Developmental factors associated with overweight

There is strong evidence that obesity can be predicted in adulthood by examining the weight of individuals during childhood and adolescence (Thompson & Smolak, 2001). Overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese adults.

Adults tend to gain weight as they get older for two main reasons: firstly, people periodically gain weight, such as during holidays and festive periods, without taking it all off. The balance, therefore, accumulates over the years (Yanovski?et al., 2000). Second, physical activity and metabolism decline with age (Smith 1984). To maintain earlier weight levels, people generally need to reduce calorie intake and increase exercise as they get older.

Biological factors?associated with being overweight

Metabolic rates can vary substantially between individuals, so some very heavy people can consume fewer calories than some very thin people and still put on weight. Fat tissue is less metabolically active than lean tissue, "so fatness itself can directly lower metabolic rate if fat tissue begins to replace lean tissue in the body" (Rodin, 1981, p362). This means that people who are overweight may continue to gain weight even if they don’t increase their calorie intake. On average, however, overweight people eat more food, especially more fats, than normal-weight individuals (Wing & Polley, 2001).

Heredity is also thought to play a role in a person becoming overweight. Researchers have identified defective genes in animals that disrupt the balance between metabolism and energy intake, and twin and adoption studies have consistently found a genetic link in obesity (Wing & Polley, 2001). This does not mean clients should feel resigned to biological determinism. Things can be done over the top of any genetic baseline!?

The good news is there's great scope for changing obesity and overweight into something much more comfortable to carry around and live with. Weight gain and the maintenance of being overweight is not an inevitable condition. We know that people lose weight e.g., during times of high motivation, increased activity levels, during loss or depression, and they gain weight e.g., during festive periods, periods of overindulgence e.g., holidays, and through illness and inactivity. Therefore, it is something nearly everyone can do something about by making behavioural and psychological changes in their life.

Want to find out how I can help you resist the temptation and get in control of your weight?

Let's chat https://calendly.com/karenbartle/resilience

Resilience is Contagious! Catch it if you can ??

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References

Field, A. E., Barnoya, J., & Colditz, G. A. (2002) Epidemiology and health and economic consequences of obesity. In T. A. Wadden & A. J. Stunkard (Eds.),?Handbook of obesity treatment?(pp. 3-18). NY: Guildford.

Goodman, E., & Whitaker, R. C. (2002) A prospective study of the role of depression in the development and persistence of adolescent obesity.?Pediatrics,?109, 497-504.

Johnson, W. G., & Torgrud, L. J. (1996) Assessment and treatment of binge eating disorder. In J. K. Thompson (Ed.),?Body image, eating disorders, and obesity: An integrative guide for assessment and treatment?(pp 321-343). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Logue, A. W. (1991)?The psychology of eating and drinking: An introduction?(2nd?ed).?NY: Freeman.

Rodin, J. (1981) Current status of the internal-external hypothesis for obesity: what went wrong??American Psychologist, 36, 361-372.

Smith, E. L., (1984) Special considerations in developing exercise programs for the older adult. In J. D Matarazzo, S. m. Weiss, J. A. Herd, N. E. Miller, & S. M. Weiss (Eds.),?Behavioural health: A handbook of health enhancement and disease prevention,?(pp 525-546). NY: Wiley.

Thompson, J.K., & Smolak, L. (2001)?Body image, eating disorders, and obesity in youth: Assessment, treatment, and prevention.?Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Wing, R. R., & Polley, B. A. (2001) Obesity. In A. Baum, T. A. Revenson, & J. E. Singer (Eds.)?Handbook of health psychology, (pp. 263-279). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Yanovski, J. A., Yanovski, S. Z., Sovik, K. N., Nguyen, T. T., O'Neil, P. M., Sebring, N. G. (2000) A prospective study of holiday weight gain.?The New England journal of medicine, Mar 23, 342(12):861-7.